Good Luck To The 110th

The 110th Congress was sworn in this week. They've got a lot of work ahead of them - with little exception more work than any newly elected legislative body in two-hundred and eighteen years. It's up to them now to put a stop to what is beyond a shadow of a doubt the most incompetent, corrupt and murderous administration in American history. There will be investigations into what the real motivations were behind the invasion of Iraq and the obscene war profiteering of the GOP-connected corporations that followed. There will be testimony from within the CIA and State Department as to what evidence was available to the Bush Mob with regard to Iraq's fabled weapons of mass destruction program and - more importantly - what evidence was ignored. They will look into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and why, sixteen months after the fact, the city of New Orleans has barely begun its recovery. There will also be inquiries into the White House's ten-thumbed handling of the American economy and the long-term effect their horrific mismanagement of it will have on generations yet unborn. In short, if the 110th Congress does its job - and does it correctly - by the summer, the overwhelming majority of the American people will be demanding the impeachment and prosecution of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors.

If the Republicans are smart (yes, I know what you're thinking - just hear me out), they'll start looking within their pathetic midst for another Gerry Ford. If they're smart [PAUSE FOR EXTREME GIGGLES], they'll demand that Dick Cheney resign immediately for "reasons of poor health". The brand new speaker of the House of Representatives is now a bona fide liberal from San Fransisco and a woman at that! (Oh, Heaven help them!). One needn't be a political science prodigy to conclude that the prospect of a President Nancy Pelosi is their worst nightmare and - let's face some serious facts here, folks - Cheney is up to his ears in too many felonies to adequately count. For their own good, they had better start searching for his replacement - NOW.

Here's something the Democrats need to know: the American electorate didn't put them in power in order that they win re-election the next time around. Every poll shows that the main reason we sent them to Washington, above all, was to put an end to the war in Iraq. Some of them have been hinting that they plan on letting Bush stew in the juices of this nasty tasting soup he's concocted for purely political reasons. The belief being that the more Bush wallows in the holocaust he's created in Iraq, the easier it will be for them in '08 - That would be the worst thing they could possibly do. People are dying - a half a million of them have already been slaughtered for no reason at all. Over three-thousand Americans have died in vain. If it is allowed to continue, by this time next year, the body count might very well be double that amount. An escalation at this point (as the administration has been hinting at) would not merely be counterproductive, it would be a bloodbath. It didn't work forty years ago in Viet Nam and it's not going to work now. Keeping this war going for political reasons would be as obscene as the war itself. And don't forget this pertinent fact: the only reason Bush plans on letting this war go on, is so he can hand it off to the next administration - an administration he knows damned well will be Democratic.
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Even as I write these words, a joint press conference, conducted by John McCain and Joe Lieberman, is being re-broadcast on C-SPAN; McCain is complaining that the Democrats are now asking for "a plan B" with regards to Iraq. As God is my witness, he's actually demanding that the democrats put forward their plan! He just asked the question: "What's their plan B"?....Umm.... Senator McCain? It's the president who makes war policy, not the congress - a tiny technicality I thought you might want to know about. When you have a free moment, have a little peek at the Constitution - just a thought. To McCain's right, Lieberman is warning whoever will listen that America's standing in the world will be irreparably damaged if we lose in Iraq....

IF?? HELLO???

This war was lost the day George W. Bush made the stupidest military blunder since Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 by "preemptively" attacking a sovereign nation that was a threat to no one but itself. This war is lost - it's over. Anyone who stupidly believes that this endless quagmire is a winnable situation has been watching too much FOX News. The fact is this: Any moral authority - real or imagined - that the United States possessed after the hideous attacks of September 11, 2001 has been squandered - it's gone forever, kiddies! Even the Democratic president who will be elected in 2008 is not going to change that fact. And maybe it's just as well. Any nation foolish enough to elect as its leader the likes of our current commander-in-chief should never be trusted again.
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As a result of the damage done to this once-great nation by a disgusting, half-witted little thug named George W. Bush, the next twenty-five years will be remembered as the time that America redefined itself. We must go back to the core values that were so eloquently articulated by Abraham Lincoln on the fields of Gettysburg on a somber November afternoon one-hundred and forty-three years ago: a "government of the people, by the people, for the people". We're doomed otherwise. Father Abraham's vision of this country is now in danger of perishing from the earth.
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Don't pray for American victory in Iraq. Pray for God's will. Pray for peace.
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net